Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/221

 Okudaira Nobumasa, besieged in the castle of Nagashimo by Takeda Katsuyori, found himself reduced to such straits for provisions that unless succour arrived speedily he must surrender. He called for a volunteer to carry the news of his plight to Tokugawa Iyeyasu, by whom he had been stationed to guard the castle. Torii Suneyemon undertook to bear the message. He succeeded in making his way through the enemy and reaching Iyeyasu, who assured him that Oda Nobunaga was then marching to the relief of the castle, and that he himself would set his forces in motion for the same purpose the following day. He therefore advised Suneyemon to remain in the camp and join the troops in their movement towards the castle. Suneyemon, however, refused to remain a moment. His comrades, he said, would be anxiously awaiting his return. But in attempting to re-enter the castle, he fell into the enemy's hands. They offered him his life as well as large reward, if he would proceed to the walls and warn the garrison that succour could not arrive and that nothing was left but surrender. He consented. Then Katsuyori's men, having bound him to a cross, set it up before the castle and, by means of a letter-bearing arrow, summoned the garrison to the ramparts to receive his message. Suneyemon, a circle of spear-points directed against his naked bosom, raised his head and shouted to the garrison: "Before three days you will be relieved.